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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 4 |
| 1876 | 3 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1878 | 5 |
14 stories matching descript
- The Tax Swindle: How Seattle’s Printer Defrauded His Neighbors
In 1872, the publisher of the *Puget Sound Dispatch* exposed a collusive scheme between local tax collectors and a rival newspaper to overcharge delinquent taxpayers for legal notices, sparking a bitter war of words in the territorial press.
- The 'Witty' Baritone of Olympia
A skeptical newspaper editorial skewers a local social columnist for romanticizing a drunken political gathering at the state capital.
- The Tax Collector’s Secret: How Seattle Officials Hid Debts to Profit from Advertising
A local newspaper exposes a scheme where the School District collector withheld tax information, forcing taxpayers to pay exorbitant advertising fees to clear liens they didn't know existed.
- The Seattle Dream Home of 1872
A real estate listing offers a glimpse of modest, mid-19th-century frontier living near the original Seattle townsite.
- An Explorer's Curious Discovery in the Puyallup Valley
In 1878, a local explorer ventured into the uncharted territory of the Puyallup Valley, reporting back with observations that bordered on the absurd.
- The Zephyr’s Relief Mission to the Snohomish Valley
After the mountain snows melted and triggered a devastating flood, the steamer Zephyr served as a critical lifeline to the isolated settlers of the Snohomish River valley.
- The Road to Nowhere: Seattle’s Infrastructure Crisis of 1876
As the city grows, its roads are crumbling into impassable mud, endangering farmers and merchants alike. A local editorial demands immediate action before the 'corduroy' turns to chaos.
- The Confidence Man of White River
A San Francisco swindler finds his way to a farm near Seattle, only to be turned in by his own conscience—or perhaps his employer.
- The Great Seattle Printing Conspiracy
When the Dispatch editor exposed a 'plunder' scheme by rival newspapers to inflate public printing costs, he revealed the messy, graft-filled reality of 1878 municipal administration.
- The Unlikely Hero of the Fire Escape
When a local doctor patented a new fire escape in 1878, he had to prove it could survive the ultimate test: a 'timid' gentleman from the New England Hotel climbing down from a third-story window.
- The Tragedy on the Beach
A grim discovery near a logging camp raises questions of foul play in 1876 Seattle.
- The Palace of Ink and Pine
A satirical look at a new, supposedly 'palatial' three-story printing office in Seattle, which turns out to be just one story above a Chinese wash-house.
- The Bankrupt Giant and the Tacoma Land Ring
A skeptical editor exposes the Northern Pacific Railroad's questionable finances and a suspicious telegraph campaign used to inflate land values in Tacoma.
- The Dream of a Northern Bosphorus: Seattle in 1872
A period travelogue captures the raw, rugged ambition of a frontier Seattle, where coal, timber, and dreams of a transcontinental railroad promised to transform a small sound-side village into a global commercial power.